How Do You Decorate?

I do not understand why people wouldn't want photos of their families around. I am very much a minimalist so I do not have a lot sitting around. What I have done is in each room I choose a great photo I want to blow up. I do not do professional studio photos outside of school pics, they just look too stiff to me and not anything like who my family is. I take snap shots or professional photographers come and take "life" photos or "action" shots of our family doing what we do then take my favs and blow them up and hang them on the wall. My favorite photo is when my third child was born and my two boys and husband were all lined up looking over her in my arms. I blew it up to 15" x 20" and put it in a great frame and hung it in my living room. It looks like art and yet a memory.

I say it is your home, put out what makes you happy and don't worry about those who choose not to show off their lives together. I never understood that anyways.

Good luck to you

I'm with you on this. I love decorating for the seasons and for the holidays. I have collages and pictures of my family (both living and who have passed) up throughout my home. We even have paintings that were painted by relatives generations ago. To me, this is our heritage and our family life, so my home reflects this theme. I think everyone views life differently, so therefore, they decorate differently.

M.

I have lots and lots of framed pictures of my now 2.5yr old son on the walls! We also have alot of artwork. Thankfully we have a fairly large house, so lots of wallspace.
I don't have any pictures sitting around (that are not on the walls), and not my wedding stuff (unity candle, etc.). That is all in a box marked keepsakes in the basement. I am not into the clutter/knick knacks.

But love love love my precious little boy's face from birth to present all over the walls!!! makes me smile everyday.
We are having another child in 4.5 months.... not sure if I have enough wallspace for new pictures. I will have to figure it out, because I will get lots of pictures made of the new baby as well. (We currently go get his pictures every 3-6 months, and buy a ton of them each time)

I don't have a lot up, but what I do is important to me. Those sterile houses make me wonder too... I tend to think either they are trying to have the perfect showplace (too keeping up with the Jones' for me) or they are really unahappy and don't want reminders...

Of course that is just my opinion... and you never know, they may have 12 dozen photos in a room we didn't see :)

My home is a modest home (not huge/fancy). We have photos hanging up on the walls, pictures on the walls and some photos on tables. We have more modern/contemporary home without a lot of clutter or knick-knacks. we do have a couple of special items out too. I consider my home to be warm and inviting as opposed to stark and un-lived in. So I think you sound like you have a nice warm home :)

Preference. It is all a matter of preference. I know many people without any personal pictures up in their house. Our house is guilty as charged but we do have artwork on the wall. Our family pictures are in our bedrooms and the office where we can enjoy them.

I prefer artwork over family photos but am having some artistic photos of the family done and will put them up in the hallway off the livingroom. For me the people are what make the home warm and friendly not just the things in the room or hanginf from the walls again it is all about preferences.

I'm a bit lazy in putting stuff up, but we do have somethings that are important to us up, and have photos, even if they are a bit dated. I love walking into houses like yours and walking around and looking at everything.

My husband and I were at a friend's house and another friend started making fun of my husband for looking around and commenting on what the owners had displayed. He was hurt by that because he believes that it shows respect to take a moment and get to know the people in the house by looking around, because isn't that what it is there for? In the same way, those that have houses that don't look lived in seem to be hiding something to me.

Ugh, it drives me crazy when people try so hard for their homes to look like models and un-lived in! A home is where you live so it should look like that! I agree with you and have tons of photos and personal momentos as well. I like our house to feel comfortable and inviting. And I enjoy going to other's homes that are the same way. I don't feel as if I can completely relax in the stark "model" homes...I like to be able to kick my feet up and not freak out if my daughter spills something!

I don't care for knick-knacks, things that don't serve a purpose just sitting around. I am okay with limited pictures on the wall. I think that blank spaces are nice--on the walls and in the middle of the floors. Every bit of space does not need to be occupied in my house. I look at other people's houses and how they have things all over, and sometimes it's very nice, but I don't want to do it myself. Girl, I don't know.

Hmmm, I might be one of those people now that you point it out!

I only have one large framed pix of all three of my kids taken professionally when they were 5, 3, and 1.

In the kitchen I have pix on the fridge and cork board of friends and family I don't see very often.

I just counted 7 framed Picasso prints on the walls. I also have a few kids art projects framed or on display shelves, but come to think of it, even they look professionally done, sigh.

Course you should also know that I have folded laundry on the diningroom table at all times and dog hair on all the area rugs, beer soda and water bottles in the dish basin and doggy nose prints on every window.

But I think you're right, I need more personal stuff.

I don't need it really really tidy, I DO like it funky. I have very strong and different colors on the walls. It does look interesting, comfortable, casual, but no it's not especially personal.

I'll have to work on that! :)

I like pictures of fam everywhere too. Some people like to "professionally" decorate and exclude the homey stuff. I believe that does reflect on their character some.... I have to say I have no friends like that, all of mine are like me. I wouldnt want my home to feel like a "model" home with no feel for the love that abounds.
Some people are into art tho.... and it's not wrong to want to display art if that's what makes them happy..... we are all different I suppose, but birds of a feather seem to flock together .... and you can read people, to a certain extent, by how their home is decorated I suppose. But that would only be your opinion.

I have pictures everywhere I think my hubby is tired of coming home to a new picture somewhere but I love to look at them through out the day and see my babies faces my dads face who has been gone 10 years now. I also have a hutch in my bedroom on my side of the room that has our wedding classes and unity candle in it as well as some other great knick knacks and pictures of my niece and me swimming with the dolphins!

I am like you, pics all over! One of my favorite things is shopping for really cute frames. We had a baby this year so when he was about 5mo we did new family pics, so I am about to move the pics over the mantle of our family with only our first born to another wall and put a new collage of pics over the mantle with our new addition as well. I have pics of our wedding, of both sides of our family, grand parents, even great grandparents,yearly pics of my son, new born pics of both sons...I do have other things too, but yeah pictures make a big part of the decor in my house. I just love for my sons to see how they have changed and also where they come from as well as documenting how we grow as a family. I think either way is fine, my husband always laughs and says people probably think we are just totally in love with the way we look with all our pictures everywhere!!

I removed all the hodge podge years ago that my hubby had out or I bought here & there just to fill up space we didn't have kids yet then now as I look around I love pictures as well but mainly from the ones taken from the studio or my sil she is a photographer so gets all the cute poses backgrounds etc..I love wall quotes not the peel N stick but signs wall art I have a few up some in the attic I don't care much for clutter or junk or every space has to be filled not my cup of tea but things that belong & go with what we have already I love country style not into metro,modern,romantic love the rustic cabinents my hubby has built they flow with the house..I would really love some nice candle holders that can be placed on the wall that are in glass vasese not pillars have yet to run into a set that i'm dieing to have but always on the look out,I'am also looking into Family picture frames they are my size (big) that will fill up some space.
The 1 thing I do have out that I love & get comments on is the sonogram pictures of all 3 of my kids next to the gift I received from the OBGYN office for being a patient it has their name dob height & weight the DR that delivered them 1 boy & 2 girls porcelian booties,put away all my wedding pics just the kids are up now

I love having photographs up! I think homes with no photos are rather sad and cold.

I'm like you...I like a clean, but comfortable and personal home!

My cousin's house sounds like your friends' - "fancier, stark, no photos, no memories." They have photos in one room of their house (on the wall in very nice frames), and my cousin is an avid photographer. I think the reason that they don't have picture frames on their end-tables and coffee tables and wherever else is b/c it is 'clutter' and they want things to have a 'clean' look in their house.

I like a clean look too, so put one frame here, one frame there. Then I go all-out with the 'stuff' on my bookshelf (books plus the bank my dad made me, plus a memory box, plus the wedding pictures, etc). But I totally know what you're saying - your home should have wonderful memories - why not display them? I wouldn't worry about you and your friends being so different.